August 10, 2017

When Kyle Walker was branded a snake after quietly manoeuvering his exit to City behind the scenes, landing the club a staggering fee for a 27-year old and sending a heartwarming video to the fans after his many years of service, I thought the treatment was incredibly harsh. Danny Rose’s moves yesterday feel thoroughly reptilian.

Rose who, lest we forget, has been injured for months, set up an interview with The Sun newspaper — the grubby tabloid needs no introduction — to explain that he will get what he deserves financially, that he will play for a northern club before he finishes playing, and to let the world know that he will never forget how badly Spurs fans treated him. There are various other points that he makes which I will come back to, but first I want to focus on the point of this interview.

In my opinion there can be little doubt as to the intentions of this: it’s both a ‘come and get me’ plea to the Manchester clubs, and a pre-emptive, PR-driven ‘I had no choice but to leave’, face-saving, mop-up job. Rose wants fans, media and potential sponsors to feel as though he was backed into a corner by Spurs’ lack of transfer activity, lack of silverware and by them not paying him market rate.

I have seen suggestions that Rose is taking one for the team, giving Daniel Levy a kick up the backside. There is absolutely no way that a player would approach a mainstream tabloid in this way for that purpose, it is far too risky a move.

Some have some sympathy with Rose. He’s 27, he’s paid considerably less than players at the wealthiest clubs, and he has never won a trophy. But he’s also playing for the team that finished as runners-up last year, with the potential to improve with some consolidation. There are no guarantees that a move would bring trophies and, indeed, he owes his career to Mauricio Pochettino, who has transformed him from a decent Premier League player to one of the best in his position in world football. He is paid a decent salary compared to most other Premier League footballers (ignoring the wealthy five for a moment), has been given steady incremental rises over the years, even when– quite frankly — he did not deserve them.

To arrange this interview days before the season starts in order to benefit himself (either, depending on your interpretation, to ruffle feathers, negotiate a better contract or to try to force through a transfer) will — at worst — leave us without a top class left-back for the season or — at best — have a destabilising impact. This self-centred approach to the game is a stark reminder of what football (a game played by a team) has become, and also of where Spurs really sit in the pecking order.

The points Rose makes about Spurs’ lack of spending would be fair enough coming from an embittered fan. We have yet to strengthen, and it has been frustrating to watch our rivals improve their squads (and in some cases, their first elevens). But ultimately he is an employee of the club, and the management will be absolutely furious that he has gone rogue in this way. Levy has generally overseen a tenure where players toe the company line, and anyone who hasn’t has generally not lasted long.

Pochettino must feel incredibly let-down too. Rose and Pochettino are known to be particularly close, with Rose nicknamed the manager’s son by his teammates.

The suggestion by some fans that Rose has a point, and that Spurs should just pay the going rate totally missed the point.

Lots of people shouting about Levy not paying players market rate. It's not a choice; Levy pays players based on what we can afford to pay.

Daniel Levy is hamstrung by our lack of revenue — hence the need for a new stadium. Swiss Ramble writes wonderfully about football finances and wrote in January of this year that we had a ‘wages to turnover ratio’ of 51%, with Manchester United 45% and Manchester City 50%. This means that the percentage of our turnover that goes toward wages is higher than that of the Manchester clubs; their huge turnovers make their higher wage bills possible/sustainable. For comparison, Arsenal’s ratio is 56%, Liverpool’s 56%, and Chelsea are an anomaly on 68%. When you see Premier League wages presented in this way it illustrates the market that we are working within.

If ‘market rate’ for Rose’s wages are £160k per week, reportedly around £95k per week more than what he earns currently, that would involve spending an additional £5m a year on him alone. Were we to make similar increases to all of our best players (which we would have to do were we to bump up his salary), we’d be looking at over £50m. We cannot afford this; not least because we have £750m worth of stadium to pay for.

A point to end on before I have to try to forget Danny Rose and think about my day job: Rose is risking an awful lot in a World Cup year. If he doesn’t get the move that he seems to crave, he could face having to build bridges with his manager and we know from experience that Pochettino has a low tolerance to this kind of behaviour. Players have said far less and ended up gone.

How do you know he “set up” and interview they probably came to him saying they wanted to chat about his injury frustrations and hopes for getting back playing, they twist words and edit sentences to create a headline. They state things and when he says yes they place the statement is his mouth! You should know better than trust these scumbags!

When I read the full interview I couldn’t believe how far he went. The parts about the fans and slandering his teammates, on the bench, were just unbelievable. There’s no way he plays for us, again. How do you walk back into training after that performance? He’ll get Adebayor-ed for 6-12 months and sold to Stoke, after the big clubs don’t want him anymore. That’s what I would do.

very good piece- says what most feel- however genuine the points he makes to say it now and in that way is basically inexcusable- and to harp on about what fans thought three years ago is ridiculous- every club has idiots who inappropriately barrack players and the reaction in 2014 when he was given a new contract from some was not right- but in the last three years he has turned round peoples’ view universally and for all those that have loyally supported him it is a slap in the face.

there were lots of us and I include myself who were sceptical as to whether Harry Kane was going to be a top class player and nothing gives supporters more satisfaction that to recognise that your views have changed-it is part of being human – undermining your team and employers in public is less forgiveable

I agree with many that a couple of signings wouldn’t go amiss, but what he’s said is poor. If he stays, the relationship with the fans will be broken in the same way as it was for United and Rooney after he spoke (far less candidly). Rose, whilst good, is hardly in Rooney’s class in terms of impact on the game and importance.

I suspect he’s come up with a collection of mitigating reasons for what he ultimately wants… a transfer and has decided to air them all in one go.

The simple fact is, some clubs are built on spending (and will ruthlessly disregard any player who proves not to be worth it). It gives a funny perspective, because they spend so much on so many, one player not working out doesn’t register in the same way as a Sissoko for Spurs. Take someone like Navas at Man City, or Mangala; fortunes spent and wasted, chopped from the team and dumped, upward career trajectories halted, because the clubs either made a mistake or had no patience. Rose seems to feel that is the way football clubs should be to get success. But Chelsea’s league positions over the last 5 years must be prove it’s not guaranteed.

Conversely, Spurs have been more frugal and have developed something different, consistency and team spirit, something which could be easily eroded or destroyed by big money signings (changing the pay scale and introducing jealousy and animosity amongst those on less) or by signing the wrong characters because they are ‘names’ who again, could damage a team spirit which has been carefully cultivated and nurtured by the management over their tenure.

Rose’s comments appear to me to be short sighted and whilst offering the appearance of a man seeking to see his team improved actually smack of someone trying to engineer something which suits them personally with little regard for his team.

* He signed a new contract not long ago, he has been reasonably well rewarded and needn’t have signed it if he wasn’t happy. It seems likely he is attached to the ‘ambition’ perceived to be shown by spending.
* He clearly wants and sees an opportunity to earn a lot more.
* The timing is despicable.
* The approach is despicable.
* He has said words to the effect of: ‘I am not seeking a move’, whilst simultaneously saying ‘if something concrete happens I will tell those at the club exactly what I think’.

Those fans who want the club to spend will empathise with Rose’s words suggesting the same, but his approach is so damaging to harmony. Even players like Sissoko or Janssen, who might understandably be upset at lack of game time have said ‘I’d think about moving to play more depending on the opportunity, but I don’t want to complain as that won’t help me or the club’.
* Rose has complained at fan treatment, but EVERY player gets stick from the fans when they are sub-par. It’s not ok and is a reflection of the rather messy unpleasant side of both society and the airtime those people get via social media. He was sub par at the time but it was a very small minority who did it. He needs to let it go. The sad thing is, the vast majority of fans now vocally and openly love him, he has probably irreparably damaged that relationship as a result of this.
* He might have been keen to talk, but agents have a lot to answer for here. They are the ones who advise players on what equates to a good career move and this will have been encouraged by Rose’s agent. Danny may have told him he fancies a move/more money and the Agent might have said ‘it’s a move then mate, because you’re not going to be getting what you’re worth at Spurs’, it just needs to snowball from there. If I were the club I would avoid dealing with players represented by this agent based on Walker, and now Rose, doing as they have. What’s clear though is Walker went about it the right way (the vitriol he’s had is totally unwarranted) and Rose has approached it totally wrong. Likely because he probably knew Pochettino and the club wouldn’t be so accommodating in relation to facilitating a move as they clearly have a much greater attachment to him.

Anyway. I’ve taken my opportunity to rant, clearly. But I should say Windy, great article, just a few things I felt the need to add from my perspective!

Firstly, I could always see Rose’s potential at full-back and always argued against his detractors. And I have always taken the line about him being Loch’s son at face value – a decent, honest, hard-working, straight-talking northern lad. And I feel exhausted and, frankly, just a little bit betrayed (I feel a bit like a naïve kid saying that now), so how must Poch be feeling?

Secondly, something Windy said – this is a team game. It is all about team building. I have felt like this since the whole talk began about it just being a job like any other job, and they should be able to behave like employees in any other walk of life. They aren’t and they shouldn’t! They get part handsomely for it. And part of the reason for that is that a manager true to put a team together based on a variety of factors that require long-term planning. And the aggrevating factor – agents. These people enhance their earnings by engineering moves. So a group of people who benefit most from engineering a chaotic labour market have insinuated themselves at the heart of a sport that requires a stable labour market in order to facilitate its most important function – team creation.

Thirdly, is it any coincidence that the two players name-dropped by everyone’s favourite opposition manager, at a crucial moment in our season, are Walker and Rose? I am of course referring to Guardiola – who opposition fans, including our own, and football pundits, insist on referring to as “Pep”, as if he were a favourite uncle or something! We said last season, when he didn’t get his own way, a little bit of nastiness creeping out. And yet everyone fawns over him. What he did was, effectively, publicly tap our players up. And no-one said or did anything. I call it the Iberian technique. It’s okay to publicly say you want to sign a rival club’s players just so long as you couch in terms that you “know you can’t”. But you don’t know you can’t, that is why you are saying it! If Poch said he would like to sign Messi and Ronaldo but knows he can’t, it is a face value statement – because we really have no chance. What Guardiola was doing was shaking the branches of the tree with his oil money stick! And it is no coincidence that very shortly afterwards Mourinho used exactly the same formula with slightly different group of Spurs player names. Included on his list was Dier who United have subsequently used every trick in the book to unsettle. They wouldn’t have done that if they had “known” way back in April (or whatever) that they had no chance of signing him. So whatever the formula used, they are publicly letting the players know. The FA are supposed to safeguard the integrity of our game, and they can’t be ignorant to this! They just let it happen. People, wise up to “Uncle Pep” – he is a bit of a sneaky, passive-aggressive bully just like Mourinho, and using underhand means to unsettle our team!

And finally, why are they doing this? It is not just because we “have a good player that they would like to buy”. It is because we have a bloody good team that has been outperforming their mega-money assembled squad – and they are desperate to break it up. They know our revenues and wages will go up once the stadium is online. So they have to act now and wages and spending is the fault line they are attacking us on. Full-back is such an important part of Loch’s system – is it any coincidence that that has been their primary target. Now Walker is gone, but I believe Pochettino when he says it was a good time to sell him. And Rose might as well be gone – and there is no pretence that it was a good time with him.

Well done, Danny, you’ve put a cloud over the start of what should have been an exciting season for all of your loyal supporters, the ones who stood by you through thick and thin. And it has nothing to do with having more chance of winning trophies elsewhere – quite the opposite, it is because they are frightened that we will win the trophies they want to win if we keep our team together.

Bye bye Danny. It’s been nice knowing you. Thanks for publicly slagging off the club that stuck by you when you were rubbish and the manager that made you the player you are today. Good luck up north you tosser.

Im from Australia and have only been following football for the past 5 or so years. I’m no expert! I’m still learning this beautiful game!
But in reading Danny’s interview, I felt he didn’t really get the club he is a part of!! Even I know that Spurs are not going to compete with world-class signings and huge pay packets. That’s not how they are set up….and especially with the new stadium being built! If Spurs were in the new stadium and had been for a couple of years, I could see them possibly moving to the next level, changing the wage structure and signing some world class players. But here and now, it’s not going to happen. The only angle I can see is that he’s wanting to push a move through.
It’s been echoed a lot the last 2 seasons, but we’ve all heard (and probably said ourselves) “In Poch we trust!”, so with the way this Danny Rose incident plays out and the new signings that will hopefully arrive…..In Poch we trust!!

Well it was a matter of time. Rose for all his petulance has some valid points. Forget the paper, he has let rip and he’s targeted the clubs lack of ambition. Him and Walker saw that they have reached their limit at Tottenham, and there is jealousy involved here. This issue will open a gap within the group. Tottenham’s lack of transfer action is concerning. Yes we have 13-14 great players, but after that it’s thin. We have punched above our weight over the last two seasons and kudos to us, but harsh realities is we have not won a trophy since who knows when. At 27 Rose, like Walker want their retirement fund topped up. I can understand a person wanting better, but sometimes its how you say it. I can see his abrasive valuation of where Spurs are at would rub the majority up the wrong way, but he feels very strong about it. He’ll leave there is no question. I feel ManUre have tapped up the player, no question and I feel all the publicity surrounding Walker, his wages and so forth has contributed to this. Don’t forget, Toby A, Lloris, Alli and Erikson are no different to him. They are ambitious and want success. My gut feel is if we don’t win something, don’t go past the first round of CL, and don’t finish top 4, Roses rant will be amplified next season

If we kept our players together there is a good chance that we would be winning the trophies City and United want to be winning. And our revenues and wages will be going up once the stadium is online. Everyone k owe this, and that is why they are acting to break our team up now. Guardiola and Mourinho publicly tapped out players up at a vital moment in our season. And the only factor for the players is that they will get more money sooner.

So, no, I don’t agree that he had reached his limit at Tottenham. And I don’t believe the issue is signings – we will make signings, it is just a matter of timing. And the purchase of expensive big name players should be as irrelevant to players as it should be to fans. All that should be signing the right players. Everything else, like wages for instance, being equal, would he rather having been playing in a team with Dele in midfield or with Pogba? Not United or Tottenham. Not trophies versus finishing second. Just Pogba or Dele in a team. And there you have your answer.

It is tapping up, it is trying to break a dangerous rival’s team up, it is agents and it is money!

This has to be the best written article by a country mile i have read on this matter.

Various articles are available, from the bottom dwelling ‘Boy H’ (‘systemic cancerous self help group for imbeciles’ is probably a better term) to the numerous concerned, geniune fans (who love or hate Levy) and our approach to this transfer period.

In fact, I am soo pleased to read an article that reasonably articulates a Spurs dilemma, my wife may get her annual…..

When Poch took over he identified, rightly at the time, that Rose was a weak link and brought in Ben Davies. In fairness Rose with a challenge to his position learned from the coaching and kicked on. Since coming in to the team after Rose’ s injury and after a shaky start, Davies has also progressed. Different styles but same position and if you look at results and scores from January on possibly more effective.
Reality check needed. Rose had a great run but there will be questions over whether he will achieve his pre injury form. There have been many players over the years who rely on pace as a weapon and have not ever been as effective again.
I fear he may face a rather difficult future wherever that may be and without the guidance and faith put in him by Poch he may become just another highly paid squad member at another club before sliding in to relative obscurity.
He has been ill advised of that there is no doubt. And may one day understand that.
On a bigger picture whether he goes to Chelsea or eithrr Mancs based on their spending one or more of Guardiola Mourinho or Conte will be greater failures than Poch if they fail to win the PL or CL because obviously they cannot all suceed. He could be part of that failure!

Of course it was an engineering job. One that would shame Leonardo into another profession. He knows it is highly unlikely the club will not stand for this and are now likely to usher him out the door promptly before he infects the rest of the team with his ideas of enrichment.

The sad reality is we are in no position to keep our best players when they grow up into proper footballers. That is why we have been, and will continue to be, perennially harvested by big clubs.

When the stadium is built I doubt there’ll be much of a change. We have been on the cusp of doing something that we just shouldn’t have been in a position to do. If that isn’t enough to make the club take a few chances nothing is.

I started supporting Spurs as a very young child because I liked how the kit looked great wrapped around Hoddle, Ossie, and Villa, when I didn’t know any better. I still don’t know any better so I will continue to support the club no matter what. I would just like to see a few years high flying success before I am taken from this world.

You want guaranteed success,support Chelsea or Man City with their unlimited ££. I’m old enough to remember relegation in 77,nearly going bankrupt under Scholar, mediocrity at best (including relegation scraps in 92, 94 & 98)with Sugar in charge. I’ll take what’s going on at the moment. That said with Wembley this season CL qualification may be a tougher task to achieve than the previous two seasons so surely that must also be taken into account

None. The chances of success are increased by buying the best players however. We’ve done well to stay in touch over the last 10 years, and to out perform most of the league the last few, but the reality is that we are now standing still at best. At worst we are going backwards.

If we are intending a huge change in the current wage structure the job of the club is to keep our best players until they can increase wages. My fear would be losing our top talent before then. The current crop of players are not cheaply or easily replaced. In fact I doubt that they could be replaced by any club.

A year is no big deal to most of us but to a footballer it is, especially at the age and standing in the game most of our top players are at. If we do happen to lose them the actual cost of replacing them is astronomical.

Lets hope DL can pull something out of the bag to make sure that we keep them all into the new stadium.

I don’t have time to read every newspaper interview granted by Spurs players, so I have a general question for the forum:

If we have a contest among Spurs senior team players to solve quadratic equations, where would Rose rank 1-25? The decision to grant this interview would skew the answers toward the bottom of the ranking, would it not?